Lines of Time
by KingofLoosePages
Summary: Naruto, a young anbu operative, is assigned to watch over the last remaining Uchiha. But with missions in between and developing feelings for the cat to his mouse, he's not so sure he knows what he's getting into.
1. Chapter 1

**Rating: **M (because I'm feeling guilty)

**Warnings:** Slash/Yaoi, violence and such, some underage I suppose

**Diclaimer:**No, my name isn't even vaguely Japanese sounding, so I don't own it.

**Note:** This is a prize for Karasu Kagami. I suck though, so its like a year late. Throw things at me and make me feel bad please. )8 I'm a terrible person to have taken this long. On the plus side, I decided to make it a 2+ shot since she (I hope its a she or I'm an even BIGGER ass) deserves so much better than I've given her. I'm soooooo sorry.

* * *

"Taka." A firm voice said and Naruto turned his head to look through the slit openings of his Anbu mask. The sharp features of a falcon disguised his identity; helped along by his hitai- ate, which he wore open and backwards to cover his hair and protect the back of his head with the metal Konoha symbol.

A panther mask leered back at him and Naruto straightened from his crouch to fully face his captain. "Sousui-sama." He nodded slightly, not taking his eyes from the man before him. Subordinate he may be, but Naruto knew not to trust anyone, especially Anbu. They tended to be a little crazier than your average shinobi.

Sousui tilted his head in the sign that Naruto had learned meant an Anbu operative was smiling at, or was very pleased with, you. "I have new orders for you, since you're our youngest operative. Hokage-sama has ordered that an anbu keep watch over the remaining Uchiha boy. You will infiltrate the academy, join his class, and when he's ready to graduate you'll have to find a way to get on his genin team."

Again, Naruto gave a little nod. "How am I supposed to be sure of what teams we'll be placed on? Or which class I'll end up in by the time he's ready to graduate?"

The man shrugged, his fingers twitching on a square shaped pocket. "I'm sure you'll figure something out," he said, and left without another word. Blue eyes blinked, irritation flooding through him. Why was he being punished with a flaky captain?

Cursing as the Uchiha passed the exam, Naruto shot a small scowl in the child's direction. Sasuke didn't seem to notice, content with simply tying his hitai-ate on and leaving the school.

Failing the exam himself, Naruto wished he hadn't been the one assigned to smoking out Mizuki. It would be a pain coming up with a believable excuse for his having become a genin when he didn't pass the exam.

It was disappointingly easy to trick the man into showing his cards, a simple copy of the Scroll of Seals was made and an anbu let the Hokage know it was time to spring the trap. With people looking for him, Naruto waited behind an old shed for the man to show up.

He hadn't counted on Iruka finding him, but Mizuki's attack on the academy teacher was enough to piss him off. He slipped up and used the shadow clone technique to take care of Mizuki, hastily explaining it away to Iruka.

The teacher took care of his first problem, coming up with a good excuse, but promoting him to genin. Naruto proudly wore Iruka's hitai-ate to class the next morning.

"He's late." Sakura grumbled. Naruto glanced over at her, then at the clock. Nearly two hours late; Naruto dearly hoped their sensei wasn't who he thought it was.

Letting a sly smile curl over his lips, the Uzumaki snatched up a blackboard eraser and set up a little trap. It was one Kakashi himself had used when he'd first started in anbu. It was something of a legend that the young boy had managed to trick their commander into falling for such an easy thing.

Naruto didn't think he would fall for his own trick, but it would certainly put him off balance as to what sort of team he was getting.

The introductions were boring, though Naruto did make sure to be as loud and enthusiastic as possible. He'd had to be the dead last in order to balance out Sasuke's grades being to highest in the class. Once the new team disbanded, Naruto quickly changed in his apartment and went to make his report.

The mission to wave was aggravating, his need to keep his cover outweighing his need to keep his team unharmed. With Kakashi out of action he'd been able to do a bit of training on his own, but Sakura was uneasy about splitting up, so it wasn't much.

Mostly he'd spent his alone time performing maintenance on his seal. It was designed to filter chakra from the Kyuubi into his own coils, slowly draining the fox until nothing is left. Something had upset the beast however, so he had to make sure everything was still working properly.

The death of Haku, while sad, didn't phase him half as much as it did the others. He was upset that such a powerful shinobi had died, even felt a bit of loss at what he saw as a kindred spirit leaving him behind, but when he lay on his futon that night he didn't dwell on it. They still had to help finish the bridge after all.

"Momochi Zabuza and his Oinin shadow are dead." Naruto reported, his falcon mask distorting his voice enough that it wasn't obvious who he was.

Sousui nodded, motioning for Tori to hand him a scroll. "You have another assignment Taka. Hyuuga Neji has been acting out of character lately. We believe that the Main Branch may have something to do with this as he's been surpassing their own heir."

Naruto glanced through the scroll as he listened to Sousui talk. His other teammates, Tori and Hebi, were flanking their captain. Hebi's chakra kept squirming, as if he were eager to get away. Naruto understood entirely, as Sousui tended to get a little long winded if you let him start going.

"-so you are to infiltrate the Hyuuga compound as a possible suitor for young Hanabi. She is the favored daughter after all." A choked sound interrupted the panther masked man.

"Sousui-sama! Not even Uchiha Fugaku would believe that Taka is interested in the younger daughter! And I highly doubt Hyuuga-sama would allow Naruto within ten hundred meters of the compound if he asked after her!" Hebi exclaimed.

All eyes were on him, or rather, all masks were turned to him. "Have you got a better plan Hebi?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side to show he was amused.

The snake masked anbu nodded, pushing his mask up so they could communicate better. The other three glanced at one another before pushing their own masks up. Hebi, who was an average looking man, cleared his throat. "It would be more believable, and much easier, to simply initiate a friendship with Neji himself."

Tori, a small woman with dull red hair and a scar stretching from her left temple over her lips, and around her neck, leered. "I don't think Neji's taste runs towards other boys Hebi. He seems the type that would be more into incest."

Naruto giggled, lifting a hand to cover his mouth. "That's okay Tori-chan, I can make any man question himself." He fluttered his eyelashes at Sousui, who spluttered, his face turning red. "I was trained by Anko-chan after all."

There was a collective shudder at the insane woman's name. No one really liked to think about what sort of trauma she'd passed on to her student. It was enough that he remained professional when the mask was on, and kept up his cover when it was off; usually.

"That aside, I do like your plan better. Lets go with that." Sousui was beginning to finger his pocket again, so the other three quickly agreed to avoid aggravating the man. He was flaky, but Sousui could be terrifying when angry.

The team separated, Hebi promising to buy ramen for Tori and Naruto once they met up again at Ichiraku's. It was to suspicious for them to all go there together after all.

Neji felt like he was being watched, but as soon as he activated his brakeman the feeling vanished and he couldn't find anything to give the person away. On top of that, some loud blond kid kept showing up and asking him to spar. So far, he hadn't agreed to it, but he was starting to think that pounding the kid into the ground was the only way to get him to go away.

"Neeeeeeejiiiiii-saaaaan!!!!" Think of the devil and he shall appear.

The aggravated Hyuuga turned to look at the blond, only managing to brace himself in time before the panicked kid smashed into him. He blinked as something was pushed into his hand and the kid stumbled back, landing on his ass.

"I made lunch, cause you always seem so grumpy and I get grumpy when I'm hungry!" Blue eyes sparkled and whiskered cheeks stretched into a smile.

Pupil-less eyes looked down at the cheerfully wrapped bento. Something like a blush spread over his cheeks, a warmth starting to build in his stomach.

"Anyway, I can't spar today cause I have to go meet my team. I'm late as it is, but that lazy sensei of mine will still probably take an hour or two to show up so its okay." He pushed himself to his feet and patted the dust off, then turned a blinding smile on Neji.

Turning to leave, the blond was surprised when a hand grabbed his arm. "Wait, Naruto. When you're done tonight meet me at training ground three."

Naruto blinked "Isn't that in your families compound though? I don't think Hyuuga-sama would approve of me going in there." He eyed the older boy unsurely.

A smirk that could almost be called a smile took Neji's lips. "Don't worry about it. He doesn't mind so long as you only go into the outer parts of the compound."

Launching himself at Neji, Naruto cuddled against him briefly. "Thank you Neji-san! I'll definitely be there!"

Naruto took off into the trees, heading toward the bridge that his team regularly met at. On his way, another body pulled up beside him. "I don't know how smart it is to get involved with that particular Hyuuga Naruto, he's known for looking down on people in your situation."

Blue eyes glanced over at Kakashi, being turning ahead again. "Its okay Kakashi-sensei, I just want to show him some of my new tricks before I use them on Sasuke-teme!"

Kakashi chuckled "I see. Well, in that case, I wish you luck."

Humming to himself, Naruto slipped over the Hyuuga compound's wall and made his way stealthily to training ground three. Neji was there, meditating in the center.

Feeling mischievous, Naruto pulled out a kunai and darted forward, intending to cut a couple of strands of Neji's hair. The older boy dodged to the side at the last minute, not even appearing surprised. He'd probably been watching with the byakugan the whole time.

"So eager Naruto-kun?" Neji murmured.

Naruto grinned back a little viciously, feeling the thrill of a fight bubble in his veins. "Of course Neji-san, it took me weeks to get you to agree to spar with me after all. I don't want to give you the chance to change your mind."

His voice was deeper, a little more husky with the excitement of getting to fight a higher level opponent than the other genin he'd been sparring with. It was rare his team was in from a mission long enough for a proper spar and starting a fight with any other anbu could be dangerous to his cover.

Being a genius, Neji noticed the slight shift in intent and dodged another attack. "You're so different." He said, almost asking.

Blond hair flashed in the fading sunlight, Naruto putting his kunai away and instead grabbing his yawara out of his weapons pouch. "I have to be careful when I fight with genin, but I figure a genius like you would be able to…_handle_ me Neji-san."

His awareness flared, Neji stumbling under the pressure of Naruto's chakra. "I see. Well then, I'm honored. But do I get when I win?"

Naruto smiled, but didn't answer. He got in several strikes that would definitely bruise before Neji settled into the stance of his family style. His revenge was quick and devastating. Naruto could feel his chakra being shut off from him and he fought viciously to keep Neji from finishing him.

It didn't work, however, and he was soon to weak to do anything but kneel in the dirt. Neji wasn't much better, his chest heaving for air in shallow puffs. One of his ribs was likely broken from Naruto's rather vicious style of yawarajutsu.

"And for my prize." The Hyuuga took as deep a breath as he could, stumbling forward to lean over Naruto's slumped form. The pale boy tipped Naruto's head back and, after wiping the blood from his split lip off, caught his mouth in a sweet kiss.

The Kyuubi container sighed, letting his yawara slip out of his hands in order to wrap his arms around Neji's shoulders. When the Hyuuga's mouth pulled away to nibble on Naruto's neck the blond asked. "Why are you doing this? I thought you liked Hinata-chan."

"It's why you were challenging me isn't it? Why you came?" Neji countered. Naruto whimpered as a sensitive patch of skin was lightly nipped and didn't answer.

Despite their injuries, it wasn't to long before Neji had managed to remove most of their clothing. Only Naruto's shirt and socks remained while Neji's kimono was left open, his underwear hanging onto one bare foot.

The older boy pushed into Naruto repeatedly, huffing for air and ignoring the pain of his ribs. Naruto happily arched into the invasion, whispering Neji's name as often as he could catch his breath to do so. It seemed to excite the Hyuuga more when he did.

Suddenly, Neji froze up, crying out sharply as his orgasm ripped through him. Naruto scrabbled at the dirt, wailing in sync with the older boy. When Neji's body collapsed onto his own, the anbu operative caught it. Gently rubbing the spot on the back of Neji's head that his yawara had hit.

"Sorry Neji-san, you're going to have a headache when you wake up." Naruto murmured. He gently pushed on Neji's side so the Hyuuga would roll onto his back.

He used what little healing jutsu he knew to take care of the cracked rib, then cleaned the boy up. Once he'd tied Neji's kimono closed he called out. "Sousui-sama."

The panther masked anbu dropped out of the trees to scoop the Hyuuga up. "Be gentle with him. He doesn't deserve any more pain than is already scheduled for him." Sousui looked down at Naruto, who was busily cleaning himself up.

When blue eyes finally raised to see why the man hadn't left yet, Sousui nodded at his subordinate and Naruto smiled back in return. Then he was gone and Naruto hurriedly slipped away as well. It would be to hard to fight his way out with his chakra sealed away if he was caught.

"I don't know anything about the elders! They wouldn't trust a branch family member anyway!" Neji snarled, struggling against his restraints.

Naruto watched with blank eyes as the Hyuuga was backhanded, his mind going over everything he knew about the Hyuuga clan. Neji had said that the elders wouldn't _trust_ a branch family member with information. So what if they'd given it to him anyway?

"Anko-chan, call him off." Naruto murmured, taking another sip of his warm sake.

The purple haired woman glanced at him, then over at Ibiki for permission. The scarred shinobi nodded and she pushed the button that would call the interrogator out. "Neji-san still thinks I'm also being questioned, correct?"

Anko nodded, keeping quiet in the face of Naruto's pensive frown. "Sousui-sama said that the Hyuuga branch families seal, the juin jutsu, is as close to mind control as they can legally get. So what if they did give him the information, then hid it behind this seal?"

They glanced at one another "How are you planning to get it out of him?" Ibiki finally asked, realizing that Naruto must have a plan if he'd mentioned it.

Naruto slipped off his chair and casually tossed a kunai to Ibiki. "Scratch me up some, I'm going to go talk to him." The older man looked skeptical, but he quickly made several cuts in Naruto's skin and close, then lashed out harshly with his foot without warning.

Smacking into a wall, Naruto let out a little cry of pain, then smiled up at Ibiki. "Toss me in. I think I look pretty bad by now with the beating he gave me earlier." Ibiki motioned for a burly man in the corner to pick Naruto up, then throw him rather harshly into the room.

His body bounced twice before he weakly pushed himself up, cursing the torture and interrogation departments sadism.

"Naruto?" Blue eyes lifted to look at Neji, who was struggling even harder against his bindings. Naruto scrambled to his feet and hurried to release him, shudder when those abused arms wrapped around him. "I was worried. Do you know who has us?"

Blond hair shook in denial and Naruto cuddled against Neji, feeling the twinges of guilt make him shake. Instead of letting the boy talk more, and make him feel worse, Naruto tilted his head up for a desperate kiss. Neji returned it with equal, if not greater, fervor.

He didn't seem to notice when Naruto let his chakra leak into the Hyuuga, but that was nature of Kyuubi's chakra. You didn't notice it until it was to late.

When Neji finally stiffened, realizing something was wrong, Naruto had already isolated the seal. A brush of his hand over it locked the chakra and Neji seized. "No, Hinata!" He jerked trying to escaped Naruto's hold, then collapsed back into his arms when the demonic chakra in his system bit back angrily.

"Naruto, you have to kill me." He pleaded, and Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh god, they want me to kill Hinata-sama…"

Blue eyes narrowed, flickering up to the wall that was entirely see through. "Why do they want you to kill Hinata. Who are they?"

"The elders, the main family elders did something and they said that I would kill her next time we sparred." Neji shook his head, sweat beading on his skin with the effort of resisting the foreign chakra and the death command it was blocking. "I can't kill Hinata-sama, Papa told me to protect her with my life."

A trembling mouth drew into a reassuring smile. "It's alright Neji-kun. I won't let them make you kill her. She'll be safe."

Relieved eyes stared up at him, then closed as if waiting for the blow to come. Naruto drew a shuddering breath, then closed his chakra in on the caged bird seal. It smoked, briefly, then cooled back to its original state. "I can't remove it, but I can protect you from it." He murmured, kissing the sealed flesh.

In his arms, Neji had slumped. Passed out from the surge of chakra that had taken out the commands and the memories of his captivity.

"He won't remember any of this and the commands have been removed. You should return him to the training ground before someone realizes he's missing." Naruto's voice was cold, the part of himself that was attached to his anbu mask making an appearance to protect him from the emotional turmoil he was in.

Another anbu came in to get him, startling Naruto as the T&I department generally disliked anbu as a rule. "We'll leave a guard on him. He'll be safe from the main branch." Naruto nodded and followed the anbu out of the room.

The next morning, Neji blushed when he caught sight of Naruto and turned around to go the other way. The blond frowned, but didn't chase after him. Obviously Neji hadn't meant to have sex with him.

"Are you okay Naruto?" Kakashi asked, placing a large hand on Naruto's shoulder. The blond tilted his head back to give his sensei a cheesy smile.

"I'm fine. I figured he'd be that way after what happened last night, so no worries." Kakashi tilted his head down a little, unconsciously using anbu body language to get his disapproval through.

Naruto quirked a smaller smile and shifted his body in the way that meant he wasn't looking for justification.

The jyônin's eyes widened, shock shivering through his body at the response. Naruto slipped out of the older mans hold and ran over to join his teammates, laughing loudly at something Sakura said, then scowling at Sasuke when the brunet sneered at him.

'It was just a coincidence,' Kakashi thought to himself. There was no way Naruto, out of all his students, would know anbu body language.

He got an even bigger shock later that night when, after being summoned to the Hokage's office, he was asked to rejoin the anbu ranks. "Hokage-sama, I don't think it would be a good idea." He argued, his little orange book put away for once.

The old man watched him silently, before signaling to someone behind him. Kakashi dodged out of the way, then gasped quietly when he saw the small body of the person who'd attacked him.

"This is Taka-san. He was assigned to watch over the Uchiha." Sarutobi started, folding his hands on the desk. "He has reported that while his relationship with the boy is good, you spend extra time training him. Because you have taken such an interest in your student it was recommended that you rejoin until Sasuke has become a chûnin. This way you would only have to report on his progress back to me rather than the council."

Kakashi shifted uncertainly. "I wouldn't be taking any extra missions?" Sarutobi shook his head, indicating that Sasuke would be his only mission. "Who, exactly, is Taka?"

The Hokage glanced over at Naruto. "Kakashi is a well respected, and trusted, member of Konoha. If you wish to, you have permission to reveal yourself to him."

Naruto cocked his head to indicate his playful mood and turned his falcon mask toward Kakashi. "If he proves he's not useless, maybe I will. Until then, try to get in the way to much?" There was laughter in his posture and Kakashi gritted his teeth behind his own mask.

Bowing slightly to Sarutobi, Naruto became serious again. "My team wished to get together before they had to depart again Hokage-sama. With your permission, I would like to be excused." Sarutobi nodded and once Naruto was gone he looked back over at Kakashi.

"Taka will probably reveal himself to you. He's the youngest anbu that we have ever accepted and before he was given this mission he'd never interacted with anyone who wasn't anbu or myself. He's still not completely sure how to be himself around outsiders."

He waited for Kakashi to nod before excusing the man. It was going to be interesting, seeing how Naruto avoided being discovered by Kakashi now that the man knew to look for something.

* * *

Please tell me if its horrible so I'll know to commit sepukku.

Taku


	2. Chapter 2

**Rating: **M (because I'm feeling guilty)

**Warnings:** Slash/Yaoi, violence and such, some underage I suppose

**Diclaimer:**No, my name isn't even vaguely Japanese sounding, so I don't own it.

**Note:** As you can see, I did not kill myself. It will be a four-shot, cause I just figured out thats how many chapters there will be when I'm done. There isn't much KakaNaru action until chapter 4 though. lol Also, I write ranks and such according to how it's written in my manga. This is also how it's (technically) written in Hiragana as the symbols for jounin are actually Jyo-u-ni-n and jyônin is a shortening of that (by one letter) in Romaji.

**EDIT::** It was pointed out to me that I'd accidentally put Mizukage rather than Kazekage. Sorry guys!

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Of course he'd been warned that foreign ninja would be entering the village, all anbu were. Still, it was a shock to see just how arrogant these genin were. Naruto watched with a mixture of disbelief and amusement as a genin from Sunamgakure threatened the Hokage's grandson.

"Ne, gaijin-kun (Foreigner), do you know who you're threatening?" Naruto called, coming up behind the kids. The genin glanced up and Naruto let his mouth curve into a stupid smile, his eyes closing to hide their sharp glint.

He'd been on his way to buy groceries, and maybe play with Konohamaru when he'd stumbled on them so his teammates weren't there to witness his odd behavior. "That's Hokage-sama's grandson you know. You could be starting an international incident."

Konohamaru was dropped like he had a disease and the genin took a hasty step back. Naruto crouched down and motioned for the kid to come to him. Moegi and Udon had had already run behind his body. "You okay Konohamaru?"

He nodded, scrambling behind Naruto when the blond stood back up. "I hope this isn't a habit of all the genin from foreign villages, bullying citizens of Konoha."

When blue eyes opened there was a power to them that frightened the pair of sand genin. They recognized that power, had lived in fear of it everyday for the past several years. Before them was a demon.

"We didn't know, he just ran into me and I was teaching him to pay more attention if he was going to be a ninja." The boy spoke up. Naruto let his smile widen, his face hidden from the children as they were behind him.

"I see. Well, if that's the case, I'll just leave you to your teammate. He seems pretty pissed." The pair whirled around and Naruto brought a hand up to his mouth to cover his laughter.

"Kankurou, Temari." They turned their heads, looking uneasy, toward the tree that their brother's voice was coming from. Naruto also looked over, his eyes narrowing when he saw Sasuke sitting frozen in the tree as well.

Not bothering to listen to the pair try and explain themselves, Naruto grabbed Moegi and Konohamaru's hands, Udon already having a grip on the back of his jacket, and led them past the pair of sand genin.

Pausing when the redhead called out to him, Naruto waited. "Who are you?"

The blond head tipped back to peer over his shoulder. "Saa, I wonder." He chuckled to himself at his own joke and said instead. "You can call me Naruto."

"Gaara."

Continuing forward, Naruto led the children to the playground and started a game of ninja tag.

In the Forest of Death, Naruto waited for his team to fall deeper into sleep. He'd volunteered to take the final night watch shift, intending to temporarily seal the Heaven mark on Sasuke's neck. The Kyuubi's chakra, though flowing irregularly thanks to whatever Orochimaru had done, would be enough to contain it until they could get to a proper seal master.

He was glad he'd begged Anko to teach him all those year ago. As he looked at it, Naruto doubted he would have been able to so much as hinder it if he hadn't been with Anko when she'd had a seal master look at it to be sure it was still being controlled.

That taken care of, he woke his team and they set off to finish the second half of the exams.

Kakashi frowned as he went over his teams responses to the various things that the cameras had managed to capture. There was something off, they were defeating things way to easily. To have survived Orochimaru, though he was grateful for it, was something three genin shouldn't have been able to do. Had the anbu operative gone into the forest with them?

Thinking back, trying to pinpoint everyone Sasuke interacted with, the only person he could think of was Naruto. If it wasn't scheduled missions with their team then Sasuke headed straight home and ate the food that anbu placed in his apartment. He hadn't been to the Uchiha compound since the massacre, so it couldn't be one of the homeless bums that squatted there on occasion.

So was it one of his team? He doubted it. The only one that could possibly have been anbu was Sasuke himself and since he was the one being watched…Maybe Sakura? She did know a lot for a genin, perhaps there was something more to her?

He doubted it was Naruto. No self respecting ninja, undercover or not, would wear clothes that begged to be killed. Besides, Naruto was horrible at chakra control, stealth, and jutsu variety. The only things going for him were his determination and stamina to be honest. While both were very important and would likely make him into a great ninja one day, they didn't make an anbu.

Perhaps it was one of the other members of Sasuke's graduating class? They did run into each other often and until recently they'd seen each other every day. He could see the Aburame as an anbu, even the Nara. He'd have to look into those two more.

Pulling on his mask, Naruto made his way out of his apartment. It was a little more than three weeks until the third part of the exam and an emergency anbu meeting had been called by the Hokage. Slipping through the crowd until he was grouped with his team, Naruto waited for the old man to speak.

"It appears there will be an attempt at the destruction of Konoha on the day of the chûnin exams third round. The Kazekage is dead, likely by Orochimaru. I don't know who is impersonating him, but I want them under close watch. Be very careful, their chakra is on par with any Kage to have fooled the suna ninja for so long."

He gazed around the room at the various animal masks staring up at him. The captains were at his back, watching their own teams reactions to the news. Unlike with chûnin, and even some jyônin, meetings, there was no sound. No one shift the look at each other, the fluctuation of chakra enough to let everyone in room know the unease that they all felt.

"Be on guard. There will be no missions outside the village. Every member of anbu has been recalled in the face of this threat. We will show these invaders that Konoha has lost none of her strength. She is firm and everlasting as the earth that supports her." The chakra spiked, excitement now the predominant feeling. Some anbu straightened from their perpetual slouches, taking pride in their village.

Sarutobi smiled in pride at his elite forces. Konoha would survive this, even if he didn't. "Dismissed."

Again unlike jyônin and chûnin meetings, the anbu didn't immediately separate and leave the room. Instead they gravitated towards familiar masks and began to quietly chat. Most of the conversation was through body language and hand gestures, but every now and then a loud laugh would bust out and brighten everyone's spirits.

Naruto sidled over to where Kakashi was speaking with what remained of his old squad. They were glad to see him, even if it was only a temporary posting. Pulling a little orange book out, one he'd picked up in the store specifically for this, he imitated Kakashi's slouch and held his book up just like the copy cat ninja.

He turned the page when Kakashi did, and even absently scratched at his hair. Though his hair was hidden under his open hitai-ate so the effect wasn't the same. Either way, Kakashi's team noticed and shifte din amusement.

When the silver haired man turned his head, Naruto tapped the mouth of the man's mask twice to show he was teasing him.

"Taka-san. Ready to tell me who you rare?" Kakashi asked, casually slipping his book back into his pocket.

Naruto did the same, then pulled his finger from the eyehole of his mask halfway down the cheek. "Nyah nyah, I'm not telling." He laughed as Kakashi's posture became frustrated. "Come on now Ryouken, it's not that hard. I've all but dropped my mask in front of you."

Leaning back in a slightly exaggerated pose, Naruto covered what would be the mouth of his mask. "Or have you maybe become rusty in retirement and don't know how to look beneath the underneath?"

Annoyed, Kakashi swiped at Naruto's head. The boy dodged of course, and then waved. "Well, it was nice talking to you. I need to see a man about some money he owes me though so later!"

Kakashi watched the small figure be swallowed by the crowd and frowned behind his double mask. All but dropped his mask? Were they being obvious about what they were outside of uniform? Maybe he would have to pay more attention.

The attack was thwarted, the Hokage barely saved by a timely kunai taking down one corner of the barrier and allowing the recalled anbu to flood in. Naruto was temporarily reassigned to guard the Hokage with his squad while he recovered.

Because he'd been injured himself in the battle, they played up the seriousness of his wounds and denied his team and friends access to his room. Since only nurses and doctors could go in, no one knew that the used intensive care units didn't hold the blond.

Once the Hokage was back at full health, Naruto returned to doing regular missions with his genin team.

"Kakashi-sensei, won't you teach me some cools things too?" Naruto whined, hanging off the man's leg to prevent him from walking off with Sasuke.

One black eye curved in a smile as the man looked down at his blond student. "Another teacher has been assigned to you Naruto! Hokage-sama decided to promote everyone who went after Gaara to chûnin status. Sakura-chan, since you have such excellent control over your chakra, the Hokage wished for you to try out some medical jutsu to see if its something you would enjoy doing."

She beamed, obviously happy to have been noticed enough for the Hokage to learn her strengths. "Ano, does that mean we're all chûnin now Kakashi-sensei?" She asked, wondering if that would mean their team was going to split up. She'd never seen a team made up of chûnin in the village after all.

"Yes. Your duties will be assigned to you after a bit of training up. You were promoted under special circumstances, so your actual abilities need to be assessed."

"Yosh! I bet my training is going to be way better than yours Sasuke-teme!" Naruto lifted his hand in a practiced gesture and pulled his eyelid down. He didn't stick his tongue out, didn't make his posture anymore mocking. Simply pulled the lid down to express himself.

Kakashi's one eye narrowed, the gesture seeming oddly familiar to him. Before he could think to hard on it though, Naruto was bouncing past them on his way to bother the Hokage about who his teacher was. Sakura followed him, intending on asking the mission room who she was supposed to go to. That was where you were supposed to pick up assignments after all.

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Review and let me know what you think!

Taku


	3. Chapter 3

**Rating: **M (because I'm feeling guilty)

**Warnings:** Slash/Yaoi, violence and such, some underage I suppose

**Diclaimer:**No, my name isn't even vaguely Japanese sounding, so I don't own it.

**Note:** So here is Chapter Three. The last chapter will be posted tomorrow. I hope you all like it! Also, sorry for glossing over the way I did, but this was originally a one-shot so...x

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Naruto frowned behind his mask, his displeasure singing through his posture. He'd been taken off Sasuke-watch nearly three year ago, as the promotion had seemed to settle him down and Orochimaru had been injured enough in his fight with Sarutobi that he wasn't much of a threat.

Tsunade had been retrieved by a team of chûnin led by Jiraiya, somehow, and had taken up the post of Hokage once Sarutobi had convinced her that the village would pay her gambling debts. It was after a particularly traumatizing mission, and a month long captivity by enemy ninja, that she had ordered he take a break from anbu.

Since his official rank was bumped up to jyônin, he was being given a genin squad to look after. Naruto wasn't sure how to take this, as he didn't really have any close relationships outside of anbu anymore. He'd been listed as being on a long term away mission for the past three years so he could blend back into the anbu forces easier so there wasn't anyone he'd kept in contact with.

He couldn't even properly argue with the woman, as she only really knew him as Taka. Sure she'd read his file, knew his real name and status as a jinchuuriki, but she'd never gotten to know him as Naruto. Not like his team had, or what was left of it. Tori had long ago retired due to injury and Sousui had transferred out of anbu to some remote outpost as a jyônin. Hebi was dead.

"Your mask Taka-san." Tsunade held her hand out for it and he brought his own gloved one up. Gently, almost reverently, Naruto pulled it off his face and held it out. Tsunade took it with the same respect, understanding the feelings that he connected with the mask. "I'm sorry, but until you have recovered you are discharged from the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai." Neither felt the need to mention that he might never recover enough to return.

Blue eyes closed briefly, then opened again. Tsunade fought not to flinch at how dead they were. "I understand Hokage-sama. If I am dismissed?" She nodded and he turned on his heal to walk out the door for the first time in his life. As an anbu, there were special entrances and exits he used and before then he'd always been carried through the window by his watchers.

Naruto aimlessly wandered through the village, his feet taking his toward anbu headquarters by habit before he reminded himself he couldn't live there any longer. The only things he'd kept there had been his extra uniform and mask, which he wasn't allowed to use anymore. The brown travel cloak he wore hid his white body armor from view, so he changed direction and headed to his much unused apartment.

It was as he'd left it, though the plan tin the corner was dead and there was a fine layer of dust in the living room. His room was much cleaner, and also held the civilian and regular ninja clothing he used when on undercover missions.

Slipping into the jyônin vest and tying his hitai-ate around his bicep, Naruto used a quick wind jutsu to direct the dust in his apartment out the open window. That done, and the few loose papers that almost blew away caught, he left to pick up groceries.

The few people he saw, and recognized, from his days as a genin didn't seem to recognize him. He could understand why. It wasn't like he'd played a major role in their lives until the end of their time in the academy and the start of their ninja careers.

The only one who seemed to recognize him had been Hyuuga Neji, but the man had immediately turned red and looked away. That brought a small smile to Naruto's face, but it quickly fell when he realized that the only family and friends he'd ever known were effectively out of his reach.

Yes, he could visit them at anbu headquarters since he had the proper clearing, having been an anbu, but it wasn't the same as eating every meal with them; sleeping in a cramp bunk, training in reinforced grounds together everyday.

A youngish looking man glanced up when Naruto walked by and his eyes widened, Naruto flicked his fingers at him and the man smiled back. The only people who would recognize him were anbu operatives that he'd revealed himself to and they couldn't openly greet him on the street. The most they could do was what had just happened.

It took nearly an hour to buy the foods he'd need for the next three days. When he had as many bags as he could carry safely, or not so safely, Naruto headed back toward his apartment and put them away. What the hell was he supposed to do with himself? Genin teams weren't assigned for another two weeks.

As Naruto stared at his new genin team, he wondered where his two weeks went. He remembered shopping, eating, using regular training grounds, following Neji around for kicks, eating a meal out with Iruka, and then sleeping. Things like that had always seemed to drag on before, so why had they gone by so fast this time?

"I'm Futago Mion! I don't like genjutsu and my strength is in taijutsu!" A blue haired girl said enthusiastically. She had a slightly maniacal light in her eyes that made Naruto uneasy. She was like Anko, able to fall into loyalty or defection until it consumed her.

"My name is Futago Yuu, I'm Mion's younger twin brother. My specialty is genjutsu." His eyes were distant, though his blue hair matched his sisters perfectly in shade and length. If Mion's breasts weren't so large for a twelve year old Naruto would have thought them identical.

"Joushi Myou. I'm training to be a medic under my uncle." He remembered the file on this family said that some mutation had led to double the chakra pathways in their upper body as a normal person would have. He supposed that would lend itself to healing or using puppets.

Eyeing up his new team, Naruto introduced himself. "Uzumaki Naruto. You'll either be genin by tomorrow evening or dead. I don't carry the weight of those who fall behind." He narrowed his eyes when Mion's face scrunched up in anger. "I also don't care what you have to say since you aren't considered ninja of Konoha until you pass my exam. Meet in training ground six at five tomorrow morning."

He stood up to leave and paused when a small hand grabbed his pant leg. Yuu stared up into his face for a moment before a beautiful smile broke over his features and he let go. "Have a good day Uzumaki-sensei."

Well, at least it looked like one of them had potential. He needed a drink, being thrown into caring for children when he barely knew how to react in public now. These people couldn't protect themselves if he relaxed to much and forgot where he was. He'd have to head over to anbu headquarters to get drunk.

There were already several people relaxing in the lounge, some of them with their masks on, but most of them had their masks on the sides of their head or in their laps. A few raised glasses to him when he walked in and he smiled slowly at them.

A drink was handed to him when he sat on a couch already occupied by men much larger than himself. Some of them had been his lovers through the years, but all of them were comfortable with the almost feminine man sitting in their midst. They joked with each other around him, comfortable with letting simply observe.

When he'd finished his first cup they refilled it with warm sake, then turned their attention to him. "Saa, the old lady saddled me with a couple of brats. Do you guys think I should string them along or just send them back?" A couple of them chuckled, having had genin teams themselves.

"Give them a fair test at least. You don't want to build up a reputation like Ryouken do you?" A muscular bald man said, nudging Naruto almost gently.

Naruto shoved back. "Iya! Lumping me in with that guy, as if I would ever miss the carrot before my nose!"

A hand landed on his shoulder, much thinner than anyone's he was sitting with. "Missing a carrot? Well _Taka_, you were rather orange back then."

The blond squeaked, nearly spilling his sake down his front. "Ryouken! How surprising you were here. I never saw you visit before." He twisted around, handing his drink off to someone and smirking at Kakashi.

Black eye narrowed, Kakashi gave the impression of a dangerous smile. "Well, when I saw one of my old students coming in I got curious. I figured it was probably you when you disappeared after Sasuke made chûnin, but it's nice to have my suspicions confirmed."

Narrowing his own eyes, Naruto's expression turned sweet. Someone cursed in the background but he ignored that in favor of Kakashi. "I'm shocked you recognized me. You never said hello when I passed you going shopping every morning."

Kakashi backed down, shifting guiltily. He had ignored his old student, even when he'd noticed that no one else seemed to recognize him. Now that he thought about it, the only person he'd seen Naruto with since he'd begun to see him on the streets was the academy teacher, Umino-something-or-other.

"Sorry guys, it looks like I forgot that I had a meeting about my genin team to attend." Naruto turned away from Kakashi and shrugged good naturedly at them. A couple shaky smiles were his answer, the intensity of his angry chakra quieting the room. "I'll see you later, ne? Next time I'll bring the sake."

He stood, slanting his shoulders to warn off touch, and made his way to the door. Kakashi didn't try to follow.

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Review and let me know please!

Taku


	4. Chapter 4

**Rating: **M (because I'm feeling guilty)

**Warnings:** Slash/Yaoi, violence and such, some underage I suppose

**Diclaimer:**No, my name isn't even vaguely Japanese sounding, so I don't own it.

**Note:** There is sex in this one. More graphic than I wrote for Neji. This is also the end as the whole fic was leading up to them having sex. I'm not sure why that little bit of plot snuck in there earlier. I hope you like it Karasu-chan!!

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When Kakashi saw Naruto next, he had three kids following him like ducklings. Two blue haired children had either hand and a brunet was holding the blue haired boy's other hand. Naruto looked irritated and neither of his hands were gripping so he Kakashi assumed the kids had been the ones to instigate the contact.

"Naruto-kun!" Blue eyes turned their irritation to him, then clouded in confusion. Kakashi again felt that stab of guilt in his heart. "I'm glad I ran into you. I was wondering if you wanted to get Ramen with me and some of the others."

The blond looked at him blankly, maybe trying to figure out who these others were, before shrugging. "Okay Kakashi-san. Sounds fine by me. When did you want to go?"

"Ah, I have a mission Friday, so how about tomorrow around six?" Kakashi suggested momentarily floundering for a time. He'd just wanted to show Naruto that someone did think about him.

The kids all whispered to each other as Naruto nodded and when Kakashi began to walk away he heard them exclaiming. "That was Copy Cat Kakashi! I didn't know you knew him Sensei!"

"That man just asked you out on a date!"

"It was an outing Myou, its only a date if it's just the two of them."

"What do you mean Yuu? You said that we were on a date the other day and there was at least three other people hanging out with us!"

There was awkward silence and Kakashi laughed into his little orange book. "What was that guy reading anyway?"

He was out of hearing range for the rest of it, but he imagined that Naruto was having one hell of a time explaining himself. If he even was.

Sakura agreed to go easily, he shift at the hospital ending at four. Sasuke was a little more difficult, as that was his usual training time. He eventually agreed and they split up to invite a couple more people. By the time they'd gathered at the ramen shop, an indoor eatery rather than Ichiraku's, almost the entire rookie nine had showed up.

Neji quietly entered the shop, but the jingling bell gave him away. Kakashi glanced from the lightly blushing Hyuuga to Naruto and felt something new burn him at the wide smile on the blond's face. "Neji-san, so good to see you again."

Everyone stopped eating at the disturbing purr, then turned to the Hyuuga, who was hesitantly sitting at the end of their booth. "You as well Naruto. How have you been?"

There was general confusion, as no one remembered Naruto having known Neji outside their match in the chûnin exams. After a bit of explaining, their memories had been jogged and they'd privately shown various degrees of regret for having not recognized the once cheery blond.

Except Shino, who'd claimed to have known him the whole time. No one believed him but Naruto, who had been Shino's captain in anbu.

"I'm fine. Go ahead an order anything you like, I'll pick up your tab." Neji's blush flamed, but he did order some ramen. The conversation picked up again and Kakashi felt his emotions settle again. Naruto looked like he was having fun, even if it was fun with almost complete strangers, and Neji was only occasionally interjecting into the conversation.

They stayed until it became obvious the staff was trying to close down for the night. Everyone separated into little pairs or, in Sasuke's case, simply vanished. Kakashi was waving after Gai, who'd shown up with Lee and Tenten two hours ago, and when he turned to say good night to Naruto he froze.

Naruto had Neji backed against the restaurant wall, their mouths very close. The blond was saying something, his lips brushing over Neji's with every word. That indescribable feeling welled up inside Kakashi again and he ruthlessly squashed it down. He could examine it later, when he wasn't feeling so angry.

Blue eyes flickered to him and Naruto smiled sweetly. "Thank you for inviting me out Kakashi. I'm going to walk Neji home, we have some things to talk about."

Neji nervously walked beside Naruto to the blond's apartment. He was married, he really shouldn't be doing this, but Naruto had fluttered his eyelashes and there wasn't a ring on his finger right then. Miya, his wife from one of the villages he'd had a long term mission in, was considering leaving him because he worked to much.

He should have listened when everyone told him not to marry a civilian.

They entered the apartment and Naruto wasted no time, tugging off his clothes as he walked toward the bedroom. Hesitating only a second, Neji followed. He found the blond on his back, laying spread on the futon.

Hard already, Naruto was plucking at a nipple and fiddling with a ring in his belly button. Neji gasped at the erotic picture he made and hurriedly shucked off his boxers. Naruto had already said he didn't want a relationship and Neji had informed him that this would be the last time.

"Neji-san…" Naruto murmured, stretching sensually on the covers. Neji groaned and leaned in to connect their mouths. Without the pain of injuries, or the anxiety of knowing he would have to attack his partner, the experience was much more enjoyable.

This wasn't an almost desperate fuck filled with adrenaline and testosterone, this was sex. Neji's body was smooth and rhythmic, drawing little cries and mewls from Naruto as his skin was stroke, pulled. The blond's orgasm started in his lower belly, spreading out to the extremities then suddenly rushed down and fled his body.

Neji followed soon after, groaning softly into Naruto's shoulder in contrast to Naruto's own rather loud scream. They lay there, panting, until Naruto carefully rolled Neji to the side. The Hyuuga was still a little out of it and whined when Naruto got up to get a rag and clean them.

Not wanting Neji to think to hard about the last time they'd had sex, Naruto soothed him and then tucked them both into bed.

He woke up alone the next morning, Neji gone for hours if the coolness of the sheets beside him was anything to go by. Naruto cleaned himself up with only a twinge of regret and went to meet his genin team. They had to catch the fire lord's wife's cat today and it was best to get an early start on that one.

Nearly three weeks after the get together at the ramen stand, neither was sure how it happened. Naruto had been called in to talk with Tsunade, where he'd been told he was being permanently discharged from anbu. She didn't believe, based on his current rate of "recovery", that he would ever be ready to take on anbu level missions again.

Naruto had left the office in a cloud of anger and bumped into Kakashi. The man had sensed his turmoil, likely been crushed by his chakra with it to be honest, and invited him out for sake. They'd gone to a shinobi bar that was known to serve ex-anbu.

It was safer than going to any of the other bars and Naruto had almost hysterically, for a ninja, refused to go to anbu headquarters. One thing led to another and now Naruto was sprawled on top of Kakashi, his tongue down the man's throat, and his hole filled with Kakashi's manhood.

The silver haired man was jerking his hips up in little movements, not enough for real pleasure but it gave them both a pleasurable buzz. "Ah..haha…Kakashi," Naruto groaned, tilting his head to the side to let the man bite down on his neck.

"Fucking vampire." He murmured, but shuddered when Kakashi sucked sharply. He was jostled, flipped onto his back and then Kakashi's hips were pushing in with almost brutal force. "Nnnng, what's gotten-AH-into you?"

Mismatched eyes met cloudy blue. "Neji fucked you here." He punctuated his sentence with a particularly vicious thrust that made Naruto's toes curl. "I was so angry when you left with him, but thinking about you doing something naughty had me so hard."

He ground down, mashing his penis against Naruto's prostate and making the blond whine deep in his throat. His nails dragged down Kakashi's back, leaving angry red welts in their wake. "Why didn't you follow us? Mmm, ha ha," Naruto nearly purred as Kakashi licked up his neck and nipped at his ear, a calloused hand finally taking hold of the blond's neglected cock.

"That Hyuuga wouldn't have welcomed me."

Kakashi pushed a little bit of chakra through himself and into Naruto, causing the blond to stiffen. It was a minor genjutsu, one that enhanced the sense of touch in a body. It was used in interrogation of enemy shinobi that had a tolerance to pain, but it was also commonly used during sex among the anbu.

Blue eyes widened, pupils dilating, and he wailed. His body curved, arching off the bed at the overwhelming flood of pleasure. Everything felt so good, so hot against his skin. He couldn't tell if he was coming himself, but when Kakashi filled him he could feel every second of it in excruciating detail.

"Kai." The genjutsu was broken, and Naruto collapsed on the bed. His head lolled to the side, chest heaving and mind blank. He didn't notice when Kakashi cleaned them up, barely realized when a blanket was thrown over him, and was only conscious enough to turn into the warmth when another body settled beside him.

The next morning, Naruto woke up warm. He rolled over to look at the man in his bed, sleeping peacefully. He really was terribly handsome under his mask.

When mismatched eyes fluttered open, Naruto smiled gently into them. "Morning."

"Mornin'." The word was followed by a yawn, which Naruto tried not to giggle at. Sleepily Kakashi was terribly cute. They lay in silence for a while, Kakashi with his eyes closed and Naruto gently fiddling with the man's chest.

"What are you doing today?" Naruto's hand stilled as he thought.

"I have training with my genin today at about ten, but that should be over by two," he answered.

Kakashi nodded, then shifted so he could cup Naruto's cheek. "Do you want to go out to eat with me tonight? On a proper date?" Naruto nodded, his eyes glued to Kakashi's lips. The other jyônin noticed and smirked, leaning forward to kiss the blond. He may have been blind to a carrot dangling in front of his face, but he was exceptionally aware of the supple body pressed into him.

He planned to always be aware of that body; of it's scent, taste, feel; no matter where the lines of time took them. Forever and always.

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Let me know what you all think, k?

Taku


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